Injured running backs Mordecai Cargill (knee) and Javi Sosa (ankle) are not back at practice yet. They have not been ruled out yet but will need to practice by Thursday to suit up on Saturday against Princeton.
"He is not quite ready yet," Yale coach Tom Williams said of Cargill. "I think he had some rehab jogging today and we will see by Thursday if he can do anything. If not, we feel we have enough depth with Deon (Randall) and Elijah (Thomas) that we can still make it through another week. Javi, it's the same situation."
Naturally Alex Thomas, coming off back to back 100-yard rushing games, will be Yale's featured back against a Princeton team which ranks 87th among 117 Football Championship Subdivision teams in rushing defense.
Williams also said that quarterback Patrick Witt's uncharacteristic series of underthrown balls in last week's win over Brown was not injury related.
"He just didn’t play well," Williams said. "There was nothing wrong with him physically, he just played his worst game of the year. Fortunately for us, we were able to overcome it with some special teams plays. The one to Chris Blohm (in the fourth quarter), he just didn’t set his feet. He tried to just throw it with his arm and it kind of died on him. He knows, he has been playing quarterback for a long time, that you set your feet and drive the football and he didn’t. He is a prideful guy, he saw the tape and knows he didn’t play well. He came out, (Yale offensive coordinator Brian) Stark and I talked about it, he is focused on being better."
Witt threw the ball with plenty of zip during practice on Tuesday.
Williams said that after looking at the tape, Yale was one block away from returning three consecutive kickoffs for touchdowns against Brown. As it was, sophomore Chris Smith became the first Ivy League player to return consecutive kickoffs for touchdowns. On the next kickoff, Alex Norocea was brought in and rather than kicking the ball in the air to the speedy Smith, he bounced the kick down to the 20. Williams said that one more executed block would have sprung Smith free again.
CULBREATH IFFY FOR SATURDAY
On Tuesday's Ivy League football coaches conference call, Princeton coach Bob Surace said he didn't expect tailback Jordan Culbreath, the 2008 Ivy League rushing leader who has had a well-documented return to the field after being sidelined with aplastic anemia, available on Saturday.
Culbreath injured his right knee in Saturday's loss to Penn and Surace speculated after the game that it could be a season-ending injury. While Culbreath has not officially been ruled out for the year, Surace was not optimistic about having him on the field against the Bulldogs.
"He will not be available," Surace said. "He's getting x-rays, hopefully we will know today. Hopefully we get good news but I am not counting on that."
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